12. On to more pleasant things. Let's talk about the Carr family. Cameron is a year old now, and Cale is three. You took the kids and Pam on the road this year for much of the season. What were the ups and downs of that experience?
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Actually they were on the road for the whole season. There wasn't a race I rode where they weren't there, and it reminded me a lot of when I was racing as a kid - it's a family affair. When I was a kid, my parents had a motorhome, they had a trailer to haul the bikes, and we raced 100 times a year in Northern California and other places. We didn't race 100 times this year, but we raced all over the place (laughs). We took the motorhome to the majority of it. Certainly going to Florida, a motorhome's not all that great, but they were at every race I competed at this year. It was fun. It was enjoyable to take them on the road, because it's going to make them tougher when they're in their school-age years. Something will have to change here in a couple of years.
13. What was the most difficult part of that?
Every day. It's tough when you're on the road and I'm behind the wheel, (and my wife refuses to drive the motorhome) it really tough on her because she's there to cater to all of our needs. Every minute. If I need something to drink, I ask her while we're cruising down the road so I can make time, and if the kids need something, or they need a diaper changed, or whatever...it's tougher on her than it is on me. Me, when I get to put my helmet on, that's my quiet time. Everything else is a lot of hours spent driving.
14. Are you planning on a similar family outing for 2000?
Well, that's a little bit down the road. Dec 22, 2000 is my wife's and my fifth-year anniversary, and we had said when we were on our honeymoon that when we need to go back to where we were on our honeymoon, which was Maui, Hawaii, every five years. So I think we're going to plan on doing that in 2000 for our fifth honeymoon.
Times during the year get pretty hectic. Between the stuff at home, and with the kids growing, and certainly with the racing, it gets tough. I was like, 'Honey let me just go do this race on my own.' I try talking her into it and it never works out. She's there. I think that comes from her up upbringing. She was a cheerleader in high school. Cheerleaders never wanted to miss game day, and she certainly doesn't want to miss race day, that's for sure.
15. Hobbies: What do you like to do when you're not watching the kids? Do you keep in touch with any of the other racers on the circuit? Dirt bike riding?
Occasionally I'll get out with Mikey Varnes and we'll go out and run a hare scrambles or something in the area or go ride 100s. He likes riding the 100s, and we've gone up to Pine Grove here in Pennsylvania and run their hare scrambles a couple of times. People think that because I race bikes, I'm on a bike every day, it's not the case. It's November 19, and I haven't been on a bike in a month and I won't be on one for another two or three weeks, and that's fine with me. I live and breathe racing motorcycles, but I don't live and breathe riding them, although I do enjoy trail riding, and teaching schools. Seeing the smile on some guy's face when he flicks it off into the corner, gives it a handful, points it, and gets a good drive off the corner, that's cool. Being able to spread the Gospel of dirt track, that's fun. But I don't have to live it every day. I'm glad for that, because there's a lot more to life than bikes.
16. Do you ever race any motocross?
I like going out and riding on motocross tracks, but I wouldn't want to race on them, simply because the racer in me would take over and I don't have enough experience, and I would get myself hurt.
17. But if the first turn was a left, you'd probably get the holeshot, right?
I charge the left-handers pretty hard.
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18. You've partnered with Danny Walker and the American Supercamp, helping teach riders about dirt track on XR100s. That must be fun.
It's a blast. Three years ago Danny called me and said, 'I have an idea. I want to do a dirt track school like Roberts does in Spain but I want to do it here for us. Will you come out and check it out?' That was at the end of, I guess...95? I said, 'Sure, I'll come out.' So I came out, I caught the second day of one class and the first day of the next. We went out and flicked around on XR100s for a couple days, and the students showed so much improvement because of what were able to give to them. The school's evolved a bit, we're a little bit more detailed in our curriculum now than we were in the beginning because we knew how to go fast on them, but being able to relate that to the students was not an easy thing. We've learned a lot over the years and we're certainly all better instructors than we were when we started. Being able to get a guy to leave there and get an idea of what it takes to go around a track in the dirt track style is a lot of fun and the letters that we receive from former students on how the skills that they learned helped them save their hide on the street or allowed them to drop two or three seconds a lap in their lap time road racing, or having a 10-year-old kid win his first race after taking our camp is very rewarding in that sense, that's for sure. We're not getting rich from the camp. People think we are, but there's not a big financial return yet. Maybe that'll come down the road. As long as we can continue to improve what we do. Either way, it's a lot of fun.
19. Are you enjoying life in Fleetwood? Anything you miss about California?
Well, these areas are not a whole lot different. They are a little bit socially. Pennsylvania, this area here is very conservative. Northern California people are maybe a little bit more apt to take a risk. That kind of frustrates me at times. I enjoy the peace and quiet that we have here, I enjoy the people, and I think this is a better place, not to knock the people of California, but I think this is a better place for my children to grow up. This little area of Pennsylvania is a pretty neat area. I'm very content here.
20. That number one plate is going to be a big target next year. Obviously King and Werner will be a tough combination, along with the ever-present strength of Will Davis, now on the relatively well-funded Moroney's H-D team. Who else do you see as challengers for the title?
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I expect Bigelow to improve quite a bit. I think he was ninth in the points this year. I expect to see him closer to the front week in and week out than he was in 99. Hacker's with Johnny Goad, so that's going to be interesting. Johnny and Mike are both from Virginia, so they're both coming from the same area, they're both very talented. I expect, from where Mike was coming from and what Johnny can provide, I think you'll see a better half-mile program from Hacker. I think you'll see better results in the half-miles than you've seen in the past, and I think that's good for Mike, because he's really good on the miles, but he needs to improve on the half-miles, and I think Johnny will help him quite a bit.
I honestly believe, by watching how things folded out during the year, that Jay Springsteen is going to have a better year than he had this year. I don't remember where he ended up in points, maybe it was fifth. But I believe that Springer will have a better year in 2000 than he did in '99, and I do think he'll win another race. His approach to racing now is certainly a lot different than it was 20 years ago when he was having his problems with his ailments. I wasn't around for the better part of that. I wasn't even at this level yet, but from riding with the guy, the last two years especially, Jay Springsteen with the equipment and the program he has with Bartels and with Joe Bisha and Jim Kelly is a better program. It's the best program he's had since he's been a factory rider. I really, really believe, and I hope this doesn't put any more pressure on him, because pressure's is part of the illness that he had in past, I hope that he can still continue to have fun while being competitive, being one of the guys to beat. If he can continue to make it fun being at the top week in and week out, Springer will be one of the guys to beat.